'The Bombay high court on Monday sought to know from the National Investigation Agency (NIA) the estimated time by which trial in the September 2008 Malegaon bomb blast case would be completed... The court asked NIA advocate Sandesh Patil to inform within two weeks till what time the trial is expected to go on and give a schedule, stating by when it will be completed. According to Patil, out of 475 prosecution witnesses, the trial court has till date examined 124 witnesses...'
'I am a Bhopal-based journalist with impeccable secular credentials and with a deep sense of moral obligation I have just filed an election petition in the Madhya Pradesh high court challenging Pragya Singh Thakur’s election from the Bhopal parliamentary seat. To me, her victory is a huge national shame. No country in the world, not even Pakistan, has ever elected a person being prosecuted for a heinous act of terrorism to its parliament. It would have been worse had the BJP Member of Parliament’s election gone unchallenged in a court of law...'
'Twelve years after a blast ripped apart two coaches of the Samjhauta Express, killing 68, no one has been found guilty of the crime. On March 20, all the accused who faced trial were acquitted by a special court. That includes accused number one, Swami Aseemanand, who had already been acquitted in the Mecca Masjid and Ajmer Sharif blast cases and who now walks free. Handing out the verdict, the special court said the National Investigation Agency had failed to establish the guilt of the accused.
What is the role of Sadhvi Pragya Singh in terror attacks in Malegaon, Ajmer Sharif, Mecca Masjid and the Samjhauta Express? Find out about ATS Chief Hemant Karkare and his role in exposing Hindu terror. Listen to the stories of innocent men whose lives have been shattered by false accusations in terror crimes in Malegaon. Detailed testimonies from those who were falsely framed in the Malegaon blasts reveal a sinister conspiracy by the Hindu right-wing and the brutalisation of those who were innocent by law enforcement agencies.
'Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday defended his party’s decision to field Pragya Singh Thakur as its candidate from Bhopal, saying it was a symbolic response to those who falsely labelled the glorious Hindu civilisation as “terrorist”. Modi accused the Congress party for creating “false narratives” on saffron terror. However, there was a time when the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the ideological parent of Modi’s party, had tried to distance itself from the “activities” of Lt Col Prasad Srikant Purohit and his associates, which included Thakur.
'While announcing Malegaon bomb blast accused Sadhvi Pragya Thakur as the BJP’s candidate for the Bhopal parliamentary constituency on Wednesday, former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan described her as someone who was born to keep the nation secure. Other BJP leaders have described Thakur as a victim of a Congress conspiracy to “defame Hindus”. In a campaign speech in Wardha, Maharashtra earlier this month, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said Hindus would never forgive the Congress for this and would punish the party for the ‘Hindu terror’ slur.
'Sadhvi Pragya Singh, an accused in the 2008 Malegaon blast case, will contest this Lok Sabha election as the BJP candidate from Bhopal. She has also formally been announced as a member of the BJP... Singh is out on bail in the 2008 Malegaon blast case, in which six people were killed and about 80 were injured. Bombs were fitted on a motorcycle and detonated in Malegaon, Maharashtra. There was also a simultaneous blast in Modasa, Gujarat. Singh has spent nine years in jail. In 2015, the NIA gave her a “clean chit”.
'... In 2014, soon after the BJP came to power at the centre, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) had unceremoniously ousted Salian, an experienced special public prosecutor, from two high-profile investigations – the Malegaon bomb blasts of 2006 and 2008. In 2016, Salian broke her silence and made an explosive revelation about the investigating agency’s alleged direction to her to “go soft” on the accused. When she refused to budge, she was shunted out without an explanation...
'Lt Col Prasad Shrikant Purohit has been released on bail after nine years in custody for his alleged involvement in the Malegaon blasts of September 2008, which killed seven and injured over a hundred. Initial investigations indicated the involvement of a hardline pro-Hindu group, Abhinav Bharat. Subsequent investigations led to the arrests of Sadhvi Pragya Thakur, Major Ramesh Upadhyay (retired) and Lt Col Purohit, a serving officer of the military intelligence branch of the Army.
'On 29 December 2007, Sunil Joshi, a one-time member of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, was shot and killed near his home in the district of Dewas, in Madhya Pradesh. Nearly a decade later, in February 2017, eight people who were charged with his killing were acquitted of the crime. Joshi’s murder, it appeared, was destined to remain unsolved. The significance of the acquittals extended far beyond the case of Joshi’s killing.
